More Normal
by LosingInTranslation
Summary: How does Reid end up at Rossi's for the cooking lesson?


**DISCLAIMER:** Don't own anything associated with the show… I just like playing with the characters in it from time to time. Dance Monkeys! Dance!  
><strong>RATING:<strong> T for Teen  
><strong>SPOILERS:<strong> Post S07E02  
><strong>WORD COUNT:<strong> 1492  
><strong>PAIRING:<strong> Reid/Lila  
><strong>SUMMARY:<strong> How does Reid end up at Rossi's for the cooking lesson?

**A/N:** I've been wanting to write a follow-up to the Lila storyline for a long time, and this one just kind of dropped into my brain.

**REVIEWS:** Reviews are the way I know if people are enjoying the work or not. So, if you leave one, THANKS! And if not, I hope you found at least a little something to brighten your day, and thanks for taking the time to read.

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><p>For weeks, months, the headaches and the anxiety and the fear have ruled his world. Dr. Spencer Reid has allowed very few people to see the pain, to get a glimpse of his anguish. In fact, there have been only two, and both times he felt betrayed by them. He reacted by doing what he always does; retreat into himself and live inside his own head. The problem is…inside his head is what scares him the most right now.<p>

There is no physical evidence showing that he is developing his mother's illness, but the idea of it scares him almost literally to death. He was sure the headaches were the first signal, but not one doctor has been able to find a cause, and he knows they all believe it is merely "in his head."

When Hotch confronted him about his attitude toward J.J., Reid slipped and let out more than he intended, but deception has never been one of his strong suits. Hearing J.J.'s apology only made him feel worse about the whole mess, but he simply cannot come to terms with her keeping anything from him, when she knew just how badly he was handling his grief. There were just too many losses in his life, and losing Emily was the final straw. She was one more person he felt he should have reached out to, should have known what was happening. One more person his inaction caused to vanish from his life. His guilt weighed heavily on his thoughts, and the headaches were getting worse, making it even harder for him to hide his frustration.

As he was trying to come up with a legitimate excuse for missing the cooking lesson at Rossi's, his phone rang, and it was that call which may well have saved his life. Her call.

The hair covering his eyes is gently wiped away from his forehead. The soft touch of her nimble fingers gliding down his cheek is the most soothing thing he has felt in years. With every tender stroke, his last headache gets further and further from his thoughts. Relief; sweet, merciful, glorious relief, from nothing more than the generous caresses of this woman.

With his head lying comfortably in her lap, his legs stretched out, and his feet hanging out of the covers over the end of the bed, she hums softly in time with each caress. He feels completely safe, at ease and relaxed. It is quite possibly the best feeling he has ever experienced in his entire life.

And then she leans down, holding her long hair away from his face and presses her warm, supple lips to his. As she pulls away, he can feel her smile before he sees it, and it makes him smile in turn. "Five years, five months, and thirty days."

"What?" she asks through her laughter.

"Five years, five months, and thirty days since the first time I knew exactly what it felt like to experience bliss." His eyes stay closed as he answers the question. "That was the first time you kissed me."

She laughs at his statement and shakes her head. "Dr. Spencer Reid, you spend way too much time inside that pretty head of yours." She leans down again and gently kisses his forehead. "How's your headache doing, smart guy?"

"Strangely enough, I don't even feel it right now." Opening his eyes, he is met by the deep, round, vibrant green eyes of the lovely Miss Lila Archer. "Maybe you aren't really as bad as I first thought."

"Oh no, I am." She kisses him once more and he can feel the last of his tension and anxiety melt away with each timeless second. "You just finally learned to appreciate it."

He instantly accepts the truth of her words. When they first met, he was still trying to figure out who and what he was, but he has come so far from the naïve and trusting young man he once was. "You might have a point."

"Yeah, but I comb my hair the other way and nobody ever notices." She pauses and he struggles to understand her statement, causing a furrow in his brow. "Oh good grief, Spencer, you need to loosen up. It's a joke."

Quickly catching up, he smiles and blushes, finally comprehending the meaning of her words. "Oh yeah, that's…funny." He stops himself, laughing, "I guess you're right. Maybe I do need to _loosen up_, as you say." He looks away from her gaze when he asks, "I don't suppose you know anyone who could help me with that?"

Lila shrugs, "I might…if you wouldn't mind giving her someplace to stay while she's in town."

He turns to lean up on his arm and look her directly in the eye. "You're in town for a while?"

"A few months, at least, we're filming out at this estate in Northern Virginia, and I really don't want to stay where people are likely to find me, and…" She pushes the hair drooping over his eyes back on his head before adding, "And I was kind of hoping for that chance at a _more normal time_, if you can fit me in, that is?"

As if on cue, the alarm on his watch begins to bleat, filling the room with its awful noise. Reid impulsively pulls the watch off and tosses it across the room. Choosing instead to close the gap between them and give Lila a real answer to her timid question.

CRIMINALMINDS CRIMINALMINDS CRIMINALMINDS CRIMINALMINDS CRIMINALMINDS

Looking at his watch as he pulls into Rossi's driveway, Spencer knows he's late to the party, but he can't seem to get the smile off his face. Spending the day with Lila had given him the chance to loosen up and look at his world with a clarity that had been missing for a long time.

With that clarity, Spencer had made up his mind to attend Rossi's mildly forced cooking lesson. He finally plugged in his abundantly logical brain and took an honest look at the situation his friends have been forced to endure. His pain and hurt are still there, but he now has a better understanding of his place in that scheme. It wasn't that his friends didn't trust him, instead they wanted to protect him in the only way they could, by shielding him from the uncertainty of the situation. With no end game, and no way of knowing how long Emily would need to be in hiding, allowing him to suffer along with them would have been far more damaging to his psyche. The grief he experienced at Emily's perceived loss, while horrific, was far more benevolent than to let him suffer through the guilt of his inadequacies at solving the problem of Ian Doyle. Even Morgan had kept his investigation from him, knowing how painful it would be until there was something concrete to work with.

All of this meant he was forced to accept a difficult truth; his friends knew him better than he knew himself. And apparently so did Lila. She knew he wouldn't set an alarm without a purpose and before things got too far, she asked him what the alarm was for. His smile spreads all the way across his face as he remembers Lila pushing him out the door, with the promise of a welcome home to make it worth his while.

When the door opens to reveal Morgan, he tries to hide his emotions under the veil of misdirected embarrassment. Morgan would be the first person to chide him about the relationship, and the first to recognize the reason for his change in mood. Thankfully, Morgan is too caught up in seeing him there to look much further than his façade.

Reaching the kitchen, he looks Rossi in the eye and is met with a knowing wink. Somehow, Rossi always seems to know exactly what's going on, even when he couldn't possibly have the information directly. He looks away, trying to keep his cheeks from flooding with a blush and giving him away completely.

He takes his place between Emily and Jennifer, and joins the festivities right away. As they toast one another; their family, Jennifer whispers her earnest thanks in his ear, and he truly feels at home once more. These people, they are his family, and family sometimes has to protect one another, even when it hurts.

And the other thing about family is…they always seem to know you better than you'd like. After the cooking lesson begins in earnest, Jennifer leans in again to say, "You should probably excuse yourself and fix your sweater. It won't take Derrick long to notice what Rossi already did." Following her gaze down, he finds that his sweater is actually on backwards from the tell-tale tag seam peeking through. As the heat of his blush rises on his face, she adds, "I just hope this time…she's here a lot longer than one night."


End file.
